Leigh Krietsch Boerner

The @cenmag.bsky.social science team was up early this morning to report on this year's #ChemNobel. Check out Prachi Patel's excellent story on the prize.

eggshell, oyster, nail, garage: things you don't want to swallow

the world needs this content

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The Sick Times COVID-19 trends graphic. Text reads: "COVID-19 data are limited this week due to the government shutdown, now the second time that vital disease surveillance has been interrupted since Trump took office in January. The CDC has not updated the majority of its COVID-19 and respiratory disease data pages since September 26. Still, we are not entirely without information, largely thanks to independent data services and researchers. The CDC did update a handful of national-level COVID-19 metrics last Friday. WastewaterSCAN and Biobot Analytics have continued sharing wastewater surveillance data on their regular update schedules. And epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers (whom I recently interviewed) combed through state health department websites to report state-level trends."

COVID-19 data are limited this week due to the government shutdown, but we are not entirely without information on how the disease is spreading. Many independent dashboards as well as state and local sites continue to offer info. (1/3)
thesicktimes.org/2025/10/07/n...

Denise Okafor

Denise Okafor, a biochemist at Penn State and one of C&EN's Talented 12, will be speaking at the #CENT12 Symposium on Monday, August 18 in Washington, DC. RSVP here: connect.discoveracs.org/talented-12-...

Read more: cen.acs.org/biological-c...

my in-person recordings of Tuesday's announcement:

Lee Zeldin's remarks youtu.be/aozqFnwPk_o

Chris Wright's remarks youtu.be/WjGWoyBaNms

Q&A at the end youtu.be/ItcKtov6pSM

(I did record the whole event but in the interest in time and internet speed, only uploaded these sections)

that would be great, honestly. Sometimes I wonder if the senior people know that their salaries are easily available public knowledge.

There's a decently large HQ building, but I've never seen the CEO's office. I got to use the head of publication's office for a few days once-that was pretty sweet

I didn't say that the EPA's proposal didn't get coverage. Of course it did, it's quite a big deal! The EPA sent out multiple press releases about it. I was saying that the event itself, the live coverage of the announcement, was very out of the way and kept pretty quiet

But my point is that the EPA was going out of their way to keep live coverage of this announcement under the radar

Indianapolis's city limits go a very long way outside of the metro area. There's literally farmland inside city limits. So even though this warehouse was in Indy, it was out in the middle of nowhere. The announcement was not streamed, but I took video. I'm working to get that up and will share it.

I reached out to Michael Abboud, Associate Administrator of the Office of Public Engagement at the EPA before I left to make sure he'd let me in. He seemed surprised to hear from me, and that I was in the Indianapolis area.

I'm guessing there were maybe 30-40 people seated during the announcement, and another 20-30 standing behind? The media was mostly local TV news crews. I believe I was the only national news person there. I found out where the announcement was at 10:30 am and jumped in my car 20 min later.

This was the setup before the speakers got here. The announcement took place in this warehouse-ish section of the Kenworth of Indianapolis semi dealership. It was 92 C outside and the space was only kind of air conditioned. Those are red, white, and blue semis in the background

EPA rejects key finding underpinning US climate rules Energy secretary cites new DOE report on climate change by known climate denialists to justify repeal

Yesterday at a semi-truck warehouse in the middle of nowhere Indiana, Lee Zeldin annouced that the EPA is trying to recind the regulatory basis to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. I was there. Here's my story for @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/policy/regul...

"... rather than a purely quantitative measure of significance resting on the absolute volume of emissions from a source category." This is buried down in the proposal on page 62.

to sum up: the EPA says that the amount of GHG emissions shouldn't be determined by the number of actual emissions

to quote the proposal, “The EPA now proposes to adopt a statutory interpretation that is centered on the impacts and effects of statutory policy considerations in determining whether a source category’s contribution is significant..."

To quote the story, "The EPA suggests that the definition of a significant emissions should be determined by "the impacts and effects of statutory policy considerations" rather than by a quantitative measure of volume of GHG emissions."

In the proposal for GHG emissions, the EPA is arguing that what power plants put out in the US is not 'significant.' But what the agency is suggesting constitutes 'significant' doesn't rely on a number at all.

EPA aims to roll back greenhouse gas and mercury emission rules Zeldin’s EPA argues that US power plant carbon emissions aren’t ‘significant’—recent study says total is more than most countries

my take on the EPA rollback of power plant emissions rule, in @cenmag.bsky.social An interesting thing is kinda buried tho. cen.acs.org/policy/EPA-a...

‘Gold Standard Science’ may lead to discarding valid research Trump’s executive order gives political appointees power to enforce standards that scientists call unattainable

Trump's 'Gold Standard Science' EO is more like 'fool's gold'. Latest from me in @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/policy/Gold-...

(to steal a term from @standupforscience.bsky.social's open letter)

why are men so emotional

Grad students will need to start cutting their pH strips into quarters instead of into halves I guess

How has the EPA helped you? Has the Environmental Protection Agency cleaned up a toxic area in your community? Restored clean water access to your community? Cleaned up the air you breathe? Replaced lead pipes in your town? The...

The Senate #Environment and #PublicWorks Committee is interested in hearing how the #EPA 's work has helped you, a loved one, or your community. Deadline is TODAY (before the budget hearing tomorrow)

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

C&EN's Trailblazer Logo on an orange background

ATTN #ChemSky: It's time to nominate folks for C&EN's Trailblazers 🎉

This year, we'll be featuring disabled chemists & chemical engineers, and highlighting their research and how they make their workspaces more accessible!

Nominate someone here by June 4: cenm.ag/nominatetrai...

#DisabledInSTEM

I'm helping lead @cenmag.bsky.social's Trailblazers 2025, and I want you 🫵 to nominate a chemist with disabilities for us to feature. Before June 4, fill out this form and recognize a chemist who inspires you: cenm.ag/nominatetrai...

any ALS researchers follow me here? or ppl know of researchers on BlueSky studying ALS?

will go looking for myself, but trying the passive option first.

EPA reorg essentially dissolves its independent science arm, the Office of Research and Development (ORD). But the EPA is not answering questions about it, and ORD scientists are left scrambling and confused. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/environment/...

Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts to US science Huge reductions, if enacted, could have ‘catastrophic’ effects on US competitiveness and the scientific pipeline, critics say.

Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts for US science in next fiscal year
NASA cut by 24%
NIH cut by 40%
EPA cut by 55%
NSF cut by 56%
Analysis from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com team
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I just haaaaaad to switch from reporting on organic chemistry, didn't I